Are you an OBOD Druid, or another Druid, or a Druid at all?

[DJ Droood]

I also greatly appreciate the fact that even though I am not an OBOD member that OBOD will let others join their Druid Grove forum.

Well there is an interesting tid-bit! How many other non-OBOD members are admitted to the members/grade only forums?...what a special honour! (or perhaps not..maybe it is common practice?) I feel kind of silly slogging and paying my way through the course work now!

oh wait...never mind...I see that this whole messageboard is called "The Druid Grove"...I always think of it as The Druid's Head Pub....carry on.

[wolf560]

NOD is NOT free. You have the fee to join, the annual fee, and if you want to have something out of their course you have to get an upgraded membership, which costs, year in and year out.

Sorry Hennie...

But the New Order of Druids is absolutely free. You can "upgrade you membership" and get a personal one-on-one mentor but you are not forced to do so.

I joined the NOD as a free member
I graduated the Bardic, Ovate, and Druidic grades without paying one pfennig.



After completing my Druid grade with the NOD I was invited to become a Mentor, which I accepted and currently have six students that I am mentoring. I was soon thereafter asked to sit on the Council and assist with the editing of the "Oran Mor" e-zine, both of which I accepted also.

I will admit I am the first "free student" to graduate the Druid course ever...

[wolf560]

I also greatly appreciate the fact that even though I am not an OBOD member that OBOD will let others join their Druid Grove forum. So Thank You OBOD! Also, their web site is second to none.

And they got Damh the Bard!

The OBOD discussion forum is a very well conceptualized and maintained forum for interaction among the forum members. I greatly appreciate the openness that I have been afforded my being allowed to post on this forum.

There have been very few discussion forums that offer this kind of openness coupled with the huge number of participants. The only board close to this is the NOD forum but it lacks the sheer number of participants and the depth that the OBOD board has.


Thank You OBOD for allowing me to read and post messages here

[DJ Droood]

There have been very few discussion forums that offer this kind of openness coupled with the huge number of participants. The only board close to this is the NOD forum but it lacks the sheer number of participants and the depth that the OBOD board has.

I think "critical mass" is key....if you get a small clique who control the agenda, or a handful of people who all think the same way, it gets old, fast. I think it is more fun to hear a large number of voices and opinions....btw, the open forums here are the "happening" part of the board...you aren't missing out on a whole bunch in the members-only area...a little low-key discussion on the lessons, occasionly, but not the surrealist circus of half-baked opinion (and occasional tasty cookie) you get "out in the open".

[Bart]

You are welcome to throw a rock in the NOD pool to stir things up. Usually it is a peacefull crowd.

[Bart]

PS in line with the previous posts: also thank you on my part on allowing a NOD member post here.

[wolf560]

The NOD is a fairly open bunch that does not argue much and doesnt throw too many rocks either. I have not seen any "vested arguments" or "party-lines" that have been drawn and you would always be welcome there.

I agree that many smaller boards tend to go that way but the NOD has not that I can tell.

I've been on that board since November 2010 roughly and I have yet to see an argument.

But I also see "Critical Mass" has been achieved here as well.
Both ways lead to learning and that is what I am all about.

[deepwater]

Wrote nothing down,,Something the Masons changed maybe ?? The only thing I ever saw my grandfather write down was the plan for some duct work in a friends new home,,In 20+ years I never saw him write ,,He read books and news papers

[Huathe]

Mark,

You actually started mentoring the NOD bardic course when you were an Ovate.

[Jake]

I don't mean any disrespect to NOD. They seem like a great group and I actually joined NOD a year or so before I joined OBOD and worked part of their Bardic course before deciding it wasn't a fit for me personally. But from what I saw of the coursework I don't think it can fairly be compared to the OBOD course at all.

The OBOD course has way more depth, and that's putting it mildly IMO. The fact that one can join NOD in November and complete their Druid grade before May kind of confirms that for me.

[wolf560]

I don't mean any disrespect to NOD. They seem like a great group and I actually joined NOD a year or so before I joined OBOD and worked part of their Bardic course before deciding it wasn't a fit for me personally. But from what I saw of the coursework I don't think it can fairly be compared to the OBOD course at all.

The OBOD course has way more depth, and that's putting it mildly IMO. The fact that one can join NOD in November and complete their Druid grade before May kind of confirms that for me.

Actually Jake, I'll respond to that.

I have been on the Druids Path since 1982.

I have completed the Bandarach College coursework in 2003-2004 (see above for list of the 23 required books that comprised one third of the coursework) and now the New Order of Druids coursework in 2011. I tried the OBOD and BDO coursework for the first year but did not renew because it was just too expensive for what they were giving me. I am set to complete the ADF Dedicant Path coursework in under the normal year and am already signed up for the Warriors guild, the Scholars guild, and the Liturgists guild. I teach classes at local Pagan gatherings and have a four person study group that I facilitate on Sundays.

I have completed my Bachelors and Masters Degrees within just the past two years while working a 12 hour day seven days a week in a job in Afghanistan.

If I were to have paid for the OBOD course I suspect that I could have completed it in less than six months as well ....why? Because I have done this Druid stuff before and I am not "learning how to be a newbie Druid", I am instead conversing with other Druids and expanding my knowledge base. The coursework is using books and material that I usually have on my bookshelf in hard copy already.

I'm glad you found your niche, and I am even happier that you are able to afford the cost.

We took the time to thank you for allowing us on the OBOD board...
You took the time to say that my completion of the NOD coursework is meaningless.

Again, I thank you for putting up with us here on the OBOD board...

[wolf560]

Mark,

You actually started mentoring the NOD bardic course when you were an Ovate.

Thanks James..!!

you're right I had forgotten about when I began doing that.
This past year has been a blur...

Good thing I'm retired with nothing to do except study, otherwise I would never be able to keep up everything going on.

[Hennie]

Hey, Mr.Wolfe, I am sorry to say, but you really don't know anything about the OBOD 'coursework', now do you?
Still, you are very welcome on this board. BTW, do you ever sleep, or are there 3 or 4 or more of you?; If it is sleeplessness I suggest meditating and sleeping a bit.

[wolf560]

Hello Hennie..!!

I was actually about to PM you (which I will do anyway).

I took the OBOD and the BDO coursework simultaneously in 2002-2003.
Nothing remains because that computer is long since gone and I could not afford to pay for any more courses after that. Although I did the work, the OBOD tells me that they cannot confirm anything except the fact that I was a member back then. When I contacted the BDO I was told that the records from that time period are gone (something about the computer itself left with the former scribe).

I would welcome the chance to do some of the work with the OBOD, but frankly I still do not want to pay that much.

To answer the second question Hennie (do I ever sleep?)... the answer is "No, not really".
I am doubly retired and am turning fifty-one this weekend.
I have a good retirement income and now I can study all day long and write books and teach at a local community college and at local Pagan stores on the weekends.

After three decades of protecting my nations interests I finally have completed my Masters Degree and now only have to decide if I want to go for my Doctorate or perhaps a second Masters Degree in Medieval history.

I get up at 6am and go to bed around 1am almost everyday, and absolutely love the fact that I have the time and resources to pursue my absolute love of history.

[wolf560]

Hey, Mr.Wolfe, I am sorry to say, but you really don't know anything about the OBOD 'coursework', now do you?
Still, you are very welcome on this board. BTW, do you ever sleep, or are there 3 or 4 or more of you?; If it is sleeplessness I suggest meditating and sleeping a bit.

I have ordered the Introductory course as it is free.
The cost is very prohibitive to me but I am interested to see what the two gwersi are.

I will post my Gwersi on this board when I complete them.

It is not sleeplessness... I have a great deal to study and research and now (finally) I have to time to pursue it. I am doubly retired and have a decent pension, so nothing else to do.

It was my dream decades ago to have the ability to spend an entire day doing research, and I have been gifted with the ability to do so every day for the past year.

Still, there is so much to read, so much to research, so much to learn... and so little time.

[Huathe]

I don't mean any disrespect to NOD. They seem like a great group and I actually joined NOD a year or so before I joined OBOD and worked part of their Bardic course before deciding it wasn't a fit for me personally. But from what I saw of the coursework I don't think it can fairly be compared to the OBOD course at all.

The OBOD course has way more depth, and that's putting it mildly IMO. The fact that one can join NOD in November and complete their Druid grade before May kind of confirms that for me.

Jake,

At first the coursework to NOD appeared simple to me, but once I started taking it I found it quite challenging and found it made me look deep into myself. I have actually been quite impressed with it. But as far as the OBOD course, my first impression of it, judging by the demos of it was quite impressive. I have no trouble believing that the OBOD course may be more thorough than NOD's. For the price it should be. It seems well put together and is very professionally done. Phillip Carr-Gomm is a very knowledgeable druid. But some of us, like Wolf, Bart and I chose a cheaper and maybe easier route. A good set of courses downloaded directly from the web. Hey, it's good and it works!

This was never meant to become a heated debate on OBOD-Vs-NOD. Both are awesome Druid Orders and Both have some really good people. I enjoy both of their forums but I have to say, NOD seems to have less conflict. I have nothing bad to say about a good respectful debate but I have seen it get pretty dirty a few times here. I think that is what Wolf means by " Critical Mass " being reached here. And the moderators are slow to lower the " Control Rods ".

It took me seven months to do the NOD Bardic Grade coursework with a lengthy exam at the end. Though I lack Mark's ( Wolf560) extensive background, I was still not exactly new to druidry and the study of druidic subjects. I did a considerable amount of study between 2001 and 2005. A divorce and life rebuliding pulled me away for awhile and I picked it up again in 2010. And here I am.

I thank OBOD for allowing non-members like me to participate on this board for free!

And yes, I hope to Join OBOD and start the coursework for it once I complete that of NOD. If money allows.

[wolf560]

Well said James...

...perhaps I got offended where I should not have...

I have ordered the "introductory course" but do not have the funds to begin the actual course just yet. Perhaps later on...

Thanks for your comments James, and you're right... much less "Critical Mass" at the NOD


P.S. My comment on "Critical Mass" was actually meant as the smallest number of people to keep a conversation going. This same number probably also determines the smallest number of people that is required to begin an argument (LOL).

[deepwater]

The paths of the Druids are many and some choose to follow several and some only the one,,wolfe I understand the shortness of time and thankyou for your service to our country

[Huathe]

Well said, Deepwater. But there is something that should define all of us despite our different paths. Something that defines us as " Druids ". It is that what holds us together.

[envelope]

for me it would be repeating my Barddic, Filidh, and Druidic education all over again a decade after completing it with my previous school, which is just really dis-heartening in so many ways....

Why?